Head-on crash on M-37 claims 2 victims

Two people died in a head-on crash Saturday afternoon on M-37 just north of Kirby Road, Battle Creek police said.

They were the fifth and sixth people to die on that stretch of M-37 in the past three weeks.

The crash occurred about 1:30 p.m. on a slightly curved, hilly stretch of M-37, about three miles north of West Michigan Avenue.

A maroon minivan occupied by a 25-year-old woman was struck by a pickup driven by an 18-year-old man, police said. Neither victim's identity had been released by police by Saturday evening.

The northbound truck crossed the center line before striking the minivan, police said.

The van, smashed in almost to the driver's seat, lay at the side of the road. The truck's frame was bent by the impact; it sat in the middle of the road.

Further details of the crash were not immediately available from police.

While neighbors lamented the tragedy in front of them, a trucker who was among the first on the scene said he comforted the driver of the pickup as he died.

"I just got my blanket and went to the pickup and covered him," said Reed Thorpe, of Stafford County, Va.

"I was telling him I was here and help was on the way, and trying to get him to stay awake, but I knew he was in bad condition. He moved a little bit. He responded to my voice. The nice thing, I guess, is he wasn't alone - he knew I was there."

Witnesses said emergency workers tried to resuscitate the man at the roadside while a helicopter ambulance was called in. But their efforts were unsuccessful and the helicopter flew off without a patient.

Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

Neighbors accustomed to the occasional M-37 smashup were dumbfounded by the carnage.

"It's a shame - what's it been, a couple weeks, since there was one up at the intersection," said bystander Don Eddy, motioning toward Halbert Road, less than a half-mile to the north, as he stood in a yard near the crash scene with Shirley Gehrman.

He referred to the March 19 crash at M-37 and Halbert in which a drunken driver caused a crash that killed the driver, his passenger and a Hastings couple on their way to church.

Saturday's crash occurred in front of Gehrman's home, but she said she wasn't aware of it until after emergency crews had arrived.

"This is bad - two in three weeks," said Matt Putman, who lives just over a hill from the crash scene. "There's always been accidents - maybe one bad one a year - but it's just unbelievable to have this many that close. That's what's bothering everybody."

Believing that the woman may have been accompanied by a small child who could have been ejected from the van in the crash, officers and later a police dog traversed tall grass and brush along the road, looking for another victim. None was found.

Robert Warner is a senior reporter. You can reach him at rwarner@battlecr.gannett.com or 966-0674.

Originally published April 9, 2006